Unemployment And Its Governance In Shanghai (1949-1957)

The Early Years of the People's Republic of China is a historic period characterized by overall social transformation.The new government had to face many social challenges in the cities,among which was unemployment.Shanghai was the city with the largest unemployed population and the most serious unemployment problem.The accumulative number of registered unemployed in Shanghai reached 670,000 from 1949 to 1957.The unemployed were mainly composed by unemployed workers,unemployed intellectuals,civil servants and teachers of the Old Regime,urban poor,out-of-school youth,and housewives.Complicated types,unbalanced regional and industrial distribution,and diversified components were the salient features of the unemployment problem in Shanghai.The problem of unemployment in Shanghai is caused by the intertwining of historical and realistic factors.Before the liberation,the frequent infighting of war and the long plundering of imperialism,the brutal exploitation of the domestic reactionary rule,the social and economic aspects of the old Shanghai suffered serious damage,traffic congestion,production shrinking,financial shortages,hundreds of factories,People are unemployed.In May 1949,when the liberation of the old Shanghai left the unemployed population as much as 420,000 people.After the liberation,due to "blockade and bombing" and the original social and political,economic restructuring of the violent,Shanghai has produced a number of new unemployed.Old and new unemployed superimposed together,formed in 1950,1952 Shanghai twice the rapid unemployment peak.Shanghai's critical unemployment problem poses a great threat to the survival of the unemployed and its families,which has caused many disadvantages to the economic recovery and development,the consolidation of the people's power and the stability of the social order.At the same time,because of its inherent "central status" New China's political stability has had a dramatic impact.Therefore,a comprehensive solution to the problem of unemployment in Shanghai is not only a test of the success of urban social stability,but also a test of the ability of the Chinese Communist Party to govern,and whether it is a new socialist country System of superiority of the strong response.In the face of severe unemployment and the struggling unemployed people,the Shanghai party and government is struggling to take on the historical mission of solving the unemployment problem and lead the people of Shanghai to start a "hard fight".The basic guarantee of unemployment management,Marx's theory of unemployment and its solution,for the Shanghai unemployment management provides a theoretical guarantee;the Soviet Union "to eliminate unemployment" success model and other cities(Shenyang and Beijing)the specific experience of governance unemployment,unemployment insurance for Shanghai To guide the practice of the path;the parties to the linkage,the establishment of the Shanghai Municipal Workers' Relief Committee,the Shanghai Municipal Commission on the handling of unemployed intellectuals and the Shanghai Municipal Labor and Employment Committee,plan and guide all the unemployment benefits and employment placement for the Shanghai unemployment management provided According to the central policy policy,Shanghai has formulated and promulgated complete policies such as unemployment registration,unemployment relief and employment resettlement,and provided institutional guarantee for unemployment management.Through various donations,labor collection and government appropriation To raise the unemployment relief fund for the Shanghai unemployment management to provide material security;the use of unemployment registration statistics and face to face inquiries,home visits,side confirmation and other forms of investigation to grasp and study the specific situation of unemployed people,providing information security for unemployment management.On the specific measures of unemployment,the Shanghai party and government,through the "public" personnel left over from the old regime,strictly controlled the private enterprises to dismiss workers and workers,curbed the blind flow into the Shanghai rural population and other "blocking sources" to prevent the emergence of new unemployed people;The release of relief funds,the organization of relief work,organize production self-help,mobilize the return home production,the implementation of job training,career introduction and other "grooming" initiatives to relieve the lives of unemployed and create jobs for them to obtain conditions;And the development of the economy,"a permanent cure" initiatives to create jobs,smooth employment channels,a fundamental solution to the unemployed to achieve employment.In addition,for the special unemployed groups such as the labor force,ethnic minorities and other ethnic groups,the Shanghai party and government in the implementation of general unemployment measures on the basis of its own characteristics with the use of special unemployment initiatives.In summary,Shanghai,under the leadership of the Party and Government and with the cooperation of social forces,had successfully relieved the severe pressure of unemployment and achieved remarkable governance achievements through a comprehensive management approach,which involved efforts that took various measures simultaneously and addressed both the symptoms and root causes of the problem,by 1957.In particular,Shanghai succeeded in ensuring the survival and development of the unemployed,stabilizing the public order of society,strengthening the ties between the Party and the masses,promoting the recovery and growth of the economy,and creating the new cultural fashion of "Labor is the most glorious thing".However,while recognizing the achievements and effective experience of unemployment governance in Shanghai,the drawbacks and lessons learned in the process are worth pondering.